Berkeley, California (Tuesday, August 16, 2016) - Construction begins soon on the Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza renovation, one in a series of projects to make it easier for people to travel to and around the downtown and campus area.

The renovation, the result of a partnership between the City of Berkeley and BART, will create new entrances to one of the region’s busiest BART stations while improving connections to AC Transit and improve pedestrian access. It will feature a more open layout, better lighting, spaces for special events and new bus shelters.

The new plaza, which comes after extensive community input, will also have better wayfinding signs to help riders move between BART, buses, taxis and other forms of travel. In addition, the future plaza will have video screens displaying real-time arrival and departure times for BART trains and AC Transit buses.

This BART Plaza renovation is one of several transportation improvements that will make it easier to travel to and around the downtown and the UC Berkeley campus.

In September, the City will break ground on the Hearst Avenue Complete Streets project, to improve safety and mobility for pedestrians, cyclists, motorists and transit riders along the north side of the UC Berkeley campus. This project will also include a new parking-protected bike lane on Hearst as well as a sidewalk between Tolman Hall and North Gate.

Construction began this July on the City’s new Center Street garage, which that will have nearly 300 more parking spaces than the previous 440-space garage while creating bicycle storage for over 300 bicycles.

Construction activities for the Plaza renovation will begin in late August and finish by the fall of 2017. Access to the station and adjacent businesses will be maintained throughout the project, although station entrances will be subject to temporary closure during portions of the construction. Temporary relocation of bus and shuttle stops will also be necessary.

These changes are in addition to other improvements the City has made in recent years to improve mobility through and around the City.

The City of Berkeley’s demand-based street parking system, known as goBerkeley, has created more available parking downtown while spreading out parked cars into underused meter areas.

Focusing on multiple modes of travel makes downtown Berkeley more adaptable to fluctuations in the number of commuters, and better able to accommodate the effect of unforeseen changes in any particular travel mode.